Samuel Walker (? - c1798) "The Orphan"/Notes
From Mary Ann Hubbell From: Mary Ann Hubbell To: WalkerShortList Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 12:29 PM Subject: WALKER_SHORTLIST Re: Descendants of Samuel Walker "The Orphan" Text Samuel Walker of Caswell Co NC whose DNA matches Ken's, et al, died there in 1798. In addition to his daughters, he named one son and two Walker grandsons in his will. The son - James William - left Caswell Co for Robertson Co TN. The two grandsons', Samuel and James, position in the family has never been 100% proved but they seem to match what is known about the oldest two sons of James William. Of course, there is always the possibility that they were the surviving children of an unknown deceased son - perhaps older since he left them his land. Lin and I have looked into it and can't either prove or disprove that the boys were J.W.s sons. There is another set of brothers in the area with the same names who we can separate from 'ours' because of marriage records. It's been years since I read my notes but it seems that they might be the same age (I'll try to find the notes when I have some time). I remember we looked at them but couldn't find out how they fit into the Walker scheme of things. I do believe that we decided they weren't those named in the will because they seem to have stayed in Caswell co, NC. We know that our brothers did not keep the land. Each sold their interest to an uncle as they turned 21. It would seem that the ones who stayed in the area and married would have kept the land to farm and support their family. Selling the land as they turned 21 suggests to me that they had moved on to TN with their parents and had no need for the land. Unfortunately, the early records for Robertson Co., TN have been destroyed, so there is nothing to use to see if the boys bought land in Robertson Co as they sold in Caswell. I visited the county archives in Robertson Co a few years ago - the historian explained that the records had been stored for years in the courthouse basement in boxes. When the archives opened they were able to salvage all of the boxes except one - the bottom box. It had suffered from years of water damage, insects and other vermin chomping on it. The box fell apart as they tried to move it and the contents were beyond saving. As a result, their records start at @ 1830. A few tidbits have been recorded by early researchers but the original documents are gone. One tidbit recorded by a 'cousin' was a mention of a Samuel Walker born in 1731 whose father's name was James. Going from the will, I suspect that James William had already left Caswell Co, NC by the time Samuel died. James was named along with a brother in law as executor, however, the final papers are only signed by the brother in law. A son born in 1800 is recorded as being born in NC so perhaps J.W. returned or just wasn't available to sign the papers. Mary Richardson From: Mary Richardson Subject: Samuel Walker the Orphan (d. 1798 Caswell Co., NC) Date: June 6, 2007 7:27:38 PM EDT To: TWWFA@googlegroups.com Text 1: Am still stuck on my husband's gg-grandfather, David Payton WALKER b. ~1824 Caswell Co. According to censuses, his parents were born in NC. Amongst his ten children were sons named Samuel and James Robert. Text 2: David Payton WALKER is my brickwall. My original source for information about David and his family was my husband's aunt, who kept detailed BMD notes about her family. I've confirmed what she wrote via censuses. She says David married Sateria Scott GROOMS. According to transcripts, Sateria's name appears as Satiry GROOM in her 1845 Caswell Co. marriage bond. The oldest child -- Martha Frances WALKER (my husband's g-grandmother) -- was born 7 Apr 1847 in Caswell Co. The youngest child, Samuel, was born 7 Jun 1868 in NC. In 1850, David's family was in Caswell Co. In later censuses, they were still there, specifically Yanceyville and Pelham. David was a blacksmith and a farmer. From: Mary Ann Hubbell Subject: Samuel Walker the Orphan (d. 1798 Caswell Co., NC) Date: June 7, 2007 5:26:34 PM EDT To: WalkerShortList@googlegroups.com We have considered that Elenor might be a 2nd wife and the names of the 3 other daughters suggesting the possible name of the 1st. Keep in mind that the research we did for this family is buried here and there in various files. We sifted through all of the Walkers in the area with a fine tooth comb. We would know if anything we uncovered was connected with Samuel Donaldson so there is nothing in the Caswell records that might help there. I'm not an expert at all on the Walkers that stayed in Caswell. I think I have the notes but I haven't had the time to sort through them so that they could help. We need to try to find more out about him to see if there are any clues to push back a generation to possibly match some of our earlier research. I'm wondering if there are some clues if some research is done with Ken's other Walker line that also lived in the same TX county. They are a maternal line so DNA won't help - but the name Erastus Rasberry Walker is quite unique. He was the son of Robert Walker. I have a Robert Walker but he only had two sons - James (1829) and John (1843). They both died in Logan Co., KY. Back to Samuel - From what I know about Samuel's children, ONLY his son left Caswell Co and went to TN. My file shows that the daughters died there. I have never looked closely at their families since there are other researchers in the "orphan" group who descend from them. I spent my time trying to prove that James William was indeed Samuel's son. I have some notes about the daughters' families but others would be able to answer questions about them more easily than I could. James William had ten children. Seven sons. Samuel - names known James E. - unmarried - court case naming relatives. William James - names known Matthew Moore - my ancestor Robert Lee - names known John Egbert - names known Joseph Marion - names known Of his 3 daughters - Margaret, Cyrene and Ellender - only Cyrene had children, Ellender never married. These families lived in TN and IL. As I said, since James E. died unmarried, there is a court case that names his living siblings or if deceased, their children. Category:Notes pages